The Ngöbe (also spelled Ngabe-Bukle) people of Panama held a series of peaceful demonstrations in Chiriqui,Veraguas, in the autonomous Indigenous region of the Ngöbe in Panama on September 1st to protest the hydroelectric project known as CHAN-75 on the Changuinola River as well as others planned within Ngobe territory.
In a statement, Ngöbe authorities repeated a demand that the current legislation which bans mining in Ngöbe territory should be retroactive to apply to the 61 concessions that have already been given out with their autonomous territory. Without this, they said, "the government will have mocked the Ngöbe people by passing a law that cannot be executed." They also are protesting interference by the Panama officials in the candidacy of local indigenous leaders and called for a boycott on the electoral tribunal scheduled for September 11.
Throughout this year, the Ngöbe have been consistently organizing actions in defense of their rights to their land and resources.
Photo by FRENADESO NOTICIAS
See Cultural Survival’s original Action Alert at the request of the Ngöbe people here.
Read the original statement from Ngöbe people in English and Spanish.
Listen to a declaration by Celio Guerra, President of the General Traditional Congress of the Ngöbe people, to Radio FRENADESO here (in Spanish).
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